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Why the New REDcard Beats Bluebird & Serve!

March 13, 2015
by
Million Mile Secrets Million Mile Secrets

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Million Mile SecretsMillion Mile Secrets Team

We devote thousands of hours of research to help you get Big Travel with Small Money. You support us by signing-up for credit cards through partner links which earn us a commission. Here’s our full Advertising Policy.

That’s because there’s NO extra step of having to buy a gift card 1st (and pay gift card purchase fees), then load it to the card like Bluebird and Serve. You can add funds DIRECTLY from your credit card!

Not all Target stores in these states have the REDcard. Check the store locator for exact locations. Eventually, the card should be available in all Target stores, but it seems like they’re launching it slowly.

You can purchase a temporary card at a participating Target store (up to a $500 initial load, and yes you can use a credit card!) then register it online. But be sure to cancel your Bluebird or Serve account before you register.

You’ll Have to Buy a Temporary Card at a Participating Target, Then Register It Online

Once your card is registered, you can reload it at ANY Target store. And both Frequent Miler and folks on FlyerTalk report that you CAN use a credit card to reload REDcard at Target!

But use caution here. That’s because the official terms of the REDcard do NOT specifically say you can use a credit card to load it at the register. They just say “cash reloads.”

No More Gift Card Fees! Add Money to REDcard at Target Directly With Your Credit Card

Loading $5,000 a month directly with a credit card is THE most compelling feature of the REDcard. It means no more fussing with gift cards, which usually charge a ~$3 to ~$7 fee.

Should You Get a Target Prepaid REDcard?

Maybe.

If you live near a Target, spend money there frequently, and don’t mind giving up a Bluebird or Serve account, then the REDcard might be a great deal for you!

The monthly loading limits are similar to Serve and Bluebird, but remember you can NOT use a credit card to load REDcard online, like Serve.

You can read the FAQs for information about limits and fees, but here’s a summary of REDcard’s loading limits:

Direct deposit: $100,000 per year

“Cash” (loading at Target register, currently includes credit card loads): $2,500 per day and $5,000 per month

Checking or savings account: $2,000 per month

Debit card: $200 per day and $1,000 per month

Request & receive money transactions: $10,000 per month

Send money transactions: $2,500 per month

Pay bills: $15,000 per month ($5,000 per month for unregistered payees, like individuals)

ATM withdrawals: $750 per day and $2,000 per month

Retail or online purchases: $15,000 per month

Being able to load REDcard directly at Target with a credit card is huge! You can load up to $5,000 a month ($2,500 maximum per day) using a credit card that earns miles and points. Then use REDcard to withdraw cash or pay bills that can’t normally be paid with a credit card, like mortgage, rent, or student loans.

Instead of Paying Your Mortgage or Loans With Cash, Load REDcard With a Credit Card Then Use Their Bill Pay Feature

The loading limits for Serve are higher ($5,000 per month at the register, plus $1,000 a month online credit card loads, or $1,500 if you have the soon-to-be-phased-out Softcard) but you can’t use a credit card for register loads!

Some folks might prefer Serve’s higher limits, but I’m excited about REDcard and not having to worry about buying gift cards anymore!

Emily’s just cancelled her Bluebird account and we’re waiting for her new REDcard in the mail, so I’ll report back once we’ve received it with more details!

Bottom Line

American Express and Target have introduced the Target REDcard, which has most of the same features as Serve and Bluebird, plus some extra perks!

With the Target REDcard, you can add money (with a credit card) at a Target cash register, direct deposit, online bill pay, transfer money, withdraw cash for free at certain ATMs, and more.

Plus, you’ll get a 5% discount and an extra 30 days for returns when you use the card for purchases at Target or Target.com.

You can NOT have a REDcard if you have a Serve or Bluebird account. So you have to choose which of the 3 you prefer!

Emily and I are waiting for her new REDcard to arrive in the mail. I’ll update after we’ve experimented with it!

Have you switched to REDcard? Please let me know about your experiences in the comments!

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Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)

55comments

MS is local; what works for me at Target/Walmart is not going to necessarily work for you at the Target/Walmart store in your city. In densely populated areas (like NYC, Chicago etc) it is harder to MS with ANY venue (compared to suburbs) because there’s more people per store and also more people attempting fraud at said retail stores via the same/similar venues as us MS-ers. As a consequence local stores implement their own restrictive policies.

For instance a Target store in Brooklyn (NYC) disallowed loading Redbird since early Feb 2015, way before the credit cards died nationwide via hard coding the registers. Some other Target stores in NYC followed suit with prohibiting Redbird loading or implementing lower limits.

Obviously if in Chicago it is easier to load a prepaid card with gift cards at Walmart vs Target, switch to Serve/Bluebird.

As to the Walmart kiosks (KATE) that you mentioned as the reason for the switch, being that they are sparse, I’m curious to know how many functional ones are in Chicago, and also what kind of experience do people have with the Walmart cust service for loading (where no working KATE is present).

P.S. I know, I’m copy & pasting my comment from the FM thread, but only because you copied & pasted this comment of yours to FM, hence nothing new to say 🙂

I live in Chicago and they are catching on to gift card reloads to redbird. I went to 3 different stores and all of them asked what type of card I was using, to which I simply replied a debit card, and then they requested to see the card. Once they saw it was a gift card, they would not allow me to load my redbird. The third time, when asked to see my card, I handed them my debit card so they would continue the transaction, but the cashier was paying very close attention to me and immediately stopped me when I tried to swipe the gift card instead. They have definitely been trained to look out for this, because they were asking questions and wanting to see my card before I even told them the amount I wanted to add. Just wanted to alert everyone. Since you can reload at a kiosk with the Serve card, I am switching.

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)